Whats The Best Water?

[Anofre]

Simple one;
What sort of water is better?
I have options of Rainwater (very soft) or spring/bore (very hard)

Ive always thought beers brewed in rainwater tasted metallicy/cleaner in a similar fasion as most town water compares to rainwater. So have prefered to brew with rainwater.

i have tested the ph of my bore as off the chart alkali, but not for trace minerals. From the residue I think its high in calcium & iron, but clear to look at & fine to drink.

The reason i'm aksing is that i have seen posts where people muck with the water hardness for a particular clone, which i thought odd...
Is harder water actually better?

 

[A3k]

The best type of water depends on what type of beer you're making, and what colour beer as well.
if you're making a Czech Pilsner, you want really soft water, if you're making a dortmunder, not so soft, and if you're making a guiness style beer, hard water.

are you making all grain beers or extract. extract isn't as essential to the beer as AG.

if you're doing AG, you should get a copy of "how to brew", but check out the link. http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html

Cheers,
Al

 

[pjwhite5]

As your research has already told you the best water is depending on the style of beer you are brewing, I reckon soft water is better as you can modify to suit the beer you are brewing/cloning.best to listen to the brewing network - brew strong the water pod cast if you can or read the water section in how to brew by john palmer, it will answer all your questions.


PJ

Simple one;
What sort of water is better?
I have options of Rainwater (very soft) or spring/bore (very hard)

Ive always thought beers brewed in rainwater tasted metallicy/cleaner in a similar fasion as most town water compares to rainwater. So have prefered to brew with rainwater.

i have tested the ph of my bore as off the chart alkali, but not for trace minerals. From the residue I think its high in calcium & iron, but clear to look at & fine to drink.

The reason i'm aksing is that i have seen posts where people muck with the water hardness for a particular clone, which i thought odd...
Is harder water actually better?

 

[A3k]

Yeah, as PJ said, the advantage of rainwater is that it's a blank canvas. It's easier to add salts to water than remove them. I need to get a rainwater tank. it'll come soon hopefully.

 

[Anofre]

I brew cans & extracts, moving to grain soon for fun, a big boiler is on the way. No more saucepan.

I dont know about the idea of adding chemical salts to my beer... If I could be bothered adding to a brew, hops is about it 4 me.
Im into fish also & know its best/healthiest to not add to much to the water. Pick a species that likes your type. Take out by filter yes, maybe, but ageing the water is the best to remove chlorines etc if you really have to....

I like a lot of commercial beers. Mostly the fruity lagers i spose. How the heck do you find out the water/mineral content of them though? Does it matter?

I guess if you brew with gutter water u get gutter taste?

 

[A3k]

If you're doing cans and extract, and you like comercial lagers, i'd ideally use soft water. However, i'm in adelaide, so to get soft water you need rain water. If you want to use rain water, it is highly recommended to boil the water to remove any bugs.
If it were me, i wouldn't bother (boiling and cooling 20L water is a bit of effort), and just use tap water for extract brews.

if you have a regular recipe or style, try making two batches of the same brew; one wit pre-boiled rainwater, and the other with tap water, but all else the same. See how much difference you notice.

Al

 

[Anofre]

Read throughthe article
Cheers for that. Will be going through more of it soon.
I see it does make a difference.
Ive brewed my regulars with them both more than a few times, Ive always liked the rain better, which i spose that article explains; lighter beers lower ph & . I reckon you can taste the difference even with a can.

Guessing boiling it is going to compound the mineral content, thus AG=big difference

Seems simple. Lights, Pils = rainwater Darks & Stouts = bore

 

[puffer555]

Sligthly off topic, but for those Adeladien's that are interested, I have been doing some research on our water quality.
I called the Adelaide Water Quality Centre, and they directed me here:
http://www.awqc.com.au/NR/rdonlyres/674F77...ardata04_09.xls
To work out which reservoir your drinking water comes from, look at this page:
http://www.awqc.com.au/AWQC/Customer+Service/faq.htm
The second last question, down the bottom, has the area maps for the reservoirs.

Turns out my tap water is best for beers with SRM's around 10-15.
(based on 5 year averages, and "How to Brew")

 

[Effect]

Sligthly off topic, but for those Adeladien's that are interested, I have been doing some research on our water quality.
I called the Adelaide Water Quality Centre, and they directed me here:
http://www.awqc.com.au/NR/rdonlyres/674F77...ardata04_09.xls
To work out which reservoir your drinking water comes from, look at this page:
http://www.awqc.com.au/AWQC/Customer+Service/faq.htm
The second last question, down the bottom, has the area maps for the reservoirs.

Turns out my tap water is best for beers with SRM's around 10-15.
(based on 5 year averages, and "How to Brew")

Thanks mate!

 

[pyrobrewer]

Simple one;
What sort of water is better?
I have options of Rainwater (very soft) or spring/bore (very hard)

Ive always thought beers brewed in rainwater tasted metallicy/cleaner in a similar fasion as most town water compares to rainwater. So have prefered to brew with rainwater.

i have tested the ph of my bore as off the chart alkali, but not for trace minerals. From the residue I think its high in calcium & iron, but clear to look at & fine to drink.

The reason i'm aksing is that i have seen posts where people muck with the water hardness for a particular clone, which i thought odd...
Is harder water actually better?

In fact you have more options than you think - You can blend the two sources you have.
I've never liked "rain water" as a brewing water, Birds have little respect for your roof

 

[katzke]

If you are brewing from a can then water is not as important. The mash is done so the big problem is over. That said it all depends on the style of beer you are brewing. Your beer may improve with different water added to the can. Different styles require different water profiles. One would hope the factory canning the goo would take that into account. If you do not like what you get then change the water.

I would start with the softest water assuming they did all the additions for you. The general rule is the lighter the beer the softer the water. If you want a hoppy beer then that changes.

 

[A3k]

I agree with Katzke,

Just something that may be worth knowing.

The reason that water chem is more important for AG is it affects pH in the mash and boil. If the pH is wrong during the mash, you are more likely to extract tannins. It can also effect efficiency... In the boil, it can effect other things as well. But i would say the main thing is tannin extraction.

Other than that, the water chemisty can effect beer in other ways. Calcium helps the yeast. Gypsum can increase bitterness sharpness and CaCl can increase malt perception. These effects will still occur for kits, however, as katzke mentioned, the can manufacturer may have added this stuff into the can.